CES 2009 - our feet hurt but our heads are full

The Monday after CES. A day to overwhelm our marketing team with the business cards and to load up the press kits into the right folder. I'm also cleaning out my backpack of all of the assorted chotchky received at the show. This year, I was grateful to see the introduction of the 2 GB flash drive holding a press kit. I had been carrying around a 1 GB flash drive for a couple of years, so I appreciate the upgrade.

CEA says that the final tally of attendees will be north of 110,000. That's a pretty big decline from the 130,000 estimate made prior to the show. I still found the South Hall (where I spent most of my time) to be well-trafficked. It was odd, however, to get to the airport Saturday afternoon and find zero line at the check-in desk and security lines that looked like the middle of the week at DFW. For those of us who have developed sharp elbows and quick tempers from previous CES events, I'm not saying I'm complaining.

Our analysts were tracking the key announcements from the show, so we'll be posting them throughout today and the rest of the week. I'll be delivering a Webcast - Key Trends in Consumer Electronics - on January 21 that will provide highlights from our time at the show. I hope that your travels were safe and your CES was worthwhile.